Writing in a language that isn't your mother tongue

Anyone here trying to write in their second language?

>be me
>born in Germany
>at 11 years old parents decide to move to Denmark
>at 16 years old we move to England

So thanks to my parents I now speak an infantile German, my Danish is laughable, and my English is embarrassing.

People think I speak three languages, I think I speak none fluently. I'm considering going back to Germany just because I don't have an accent and I might be able to catch up on vocabulary...

Anyway share your stories.

Other urls found in this thread:

pixeldra.in/u/Eh_dc8
twitter.com/NSFWRedditImage

haha

Well you actually have the basis to be fluent in both German and English (and maybe danish?), which is better than most people! Give yourself a couple of years to really focus on your vocabulary and I’m sure you can get to an above acceptable level. I’d do anything to have had early exposure to a second language.

I am trying to write a book in english, with is my second langue. Problemas is, tho I am very good to understand english, I aint so good in writting it.
I started noticing that my english writting sounds repetitive. Idk if this is some problem with the langue itself or with me, probably the second option tho.
I often keep books in english around this time, so I can have a idea if what I am writting is being repetitive or is okay by regular english standards.

where in denmark?

Even if you decide to go back to Germany to pick up some vocabulary, you'd still probably have an incredibly hard time writing in German because of the grammar. It's closer to Latin than it is to English IMO.

NO EXCUSES

Whats the excuse? OP is actively trying to find a solution to his problem. This thread's purpose is to share stories.

If you're in England speak English. People will assume it's your second language and that you're fluent in one of the other two and they might occasionally make a rather snooty comment about it but they'd do that anyway because of English banter.

The story is Joseph Conrad didn't learn English until his mid-20s

How did he do it? Anything out there describing his method of learning?

How old are you?

If you speak a language daily it should not take many years to learn in. Maybe try to study some German to make sure that you speak two languages well.

keep going at it. keep consuming english media too. rn your post doesnt read like youre really fluent. youll get there though i promise. :)

write in spanglish your work might end up in the western canon through affirmative action

no problemas then

maybe you could write fanfiction in your worse language

it's "safe" as in it's easy to practice and people will be nice to you in their critiques, versus a mean teacher

the time where fanfiction was relevant has been over for years though

he didn't have one. he wrote by awkwardly translating his polish and french thoughts into english, a language he thought was such garbage that his ineptitude in it made no difference. the lesson of conrad is to not give a shit and just write.

no

I've always wondered why his writing felt awkward.

I try. Is just that, after I finish my english classes from english school, the only real uses I had to write in english are on the internet during casual conversation. Usualy this is in the form of casual talk (like right now), so I don't go beyond this format and then I don't get any reason to try writte in other forms.
My cellphone corrects it to portuguese, not spanish.
I would love to go in Western Cannon, but not by affirmative action. If I go this way, only proves how inept I was in my wish be become immortal.

I've been practicing my Latin by writing short stories and essays.

Not to be mean, but is Latin useful in some way except in science?

Practically? Not really. But it gives access to a tradition that has been a part of Western letters since the third century BC and has continued unbroken -- vigorously through perhaps the eighteenth century -- in one form or another to the present day.

Most people don't realize this, but ancient Roman works, though they form the foundation of Latin literature, represent a miniscule proportion of Latin works we have today. Science, mathematics, novels, histories, poetry, and any number of other forms of writing all exist across more than two millenia of Latin writing.

Classical Latin is the subject of a vast majority of scholarship and dialog concerning Latin literature, but there are obviously meritorious works of literature in Latin that have been written in every century since the fall of Rome.

Hey I'm a linguist, let me tell you a couple things that might help you feel better.

First, the process of first-language acquisition starts to get set in stone around the age of 5. This is a biological wiring of your brain that's irreversible. If your parents were speaking to you in only German that whole time, then that's your first language. You may have a poor vocabulary (easily fixable with reading), but the grammar/phonology/etc. of the language is indelibly a part of you til the day you die.

Second, 11 is around the age at which most people lose the ability to learn a second language to a near-native level, especially in terms of accent. I don't know what this means for your English, but your Danish is probably better than you think because you moved there at a great age, biologically speaking.

Latin isn't even useful in Science.

this exactly. No other language affords such an immense window into humanity

This. Greek is better.

>Second, 11 is around the age at which most people lose the ability to learn a second language to a near-native level, especially in terms of accent
Interesting. I moved to a different country at 11 and have a very slight accent. Sometimes people ask me where I'm from but the answer they expect is a different city, not a different country.
Meanwhile my brother who is 12 has distinct accent and most people notice is.

If he were to continue to speaking the second language till her was 30, would he eventually acquire the same intuition as a native speaker?

I guess it's useful if you want to go and learn all Romance languages. But then, just knowing another Romance language will already help a lot, with the addition of you actually having the chance of using it. We had Latin in school (just two years, so not nearly enough to speak it in any capacity), but it helped getting my head around concepts like declensions/cases, which is a plus if your first language doesn't use those.

You're probably just dumb.

He's a dumb frogposter.

Yes, I try to make a point of writing in English as much as I write in Bulgarian, it doesn't come naturally at first but I'd say after about 20,000 words you get the flow going

>after about 20,000 words you get the flow going
>tfw my english is gets gooder by the day by shitposting on Veeky Forums

this was a cute post

Yeah, I really wish more people knew about the diversity of Latin writing. There's Latin on China, the discovery of the New World, on cooking and engineering and living.

Historically speaking, no language is as diverse in subject matter and authorship as Latin.

> be Indian
> be rich 0.1% Indian
> colonial-era private school education
I speak English better than my mother tongue Hindi, and it sucks. Je aussi parle français. I've travelled through all of Europe, when I haven't even visited Kashmir. I write mostly in English, but sometimes in Hindi as well.
I liken myself to an unskilled, less-erudite Nabokov, who weeps that he's lost the finesse and the exquisite wordplay of his native tongue.

Bet you still have a thick accent though. Never heard an Indian without an accent.

You haven't met someone from Delhi then. The ones you meet are probably South Indian immigrants(the ones who are browner).

English has become my first language, barely use my native language when writing.
Then again our syntax and a majority of the vocabulary is identical, just "slightly" different spelling. (Swedish)

>be born to parents from African country
>be born in Northern Yuurop
>grow up learning both languages
>learn English in school
>learn Spanish in school
>start to learn Arabic out of interest

>tfw speak more languages than the vast majority of people on Earth
>tfw able to describe your innermost feelings in 5 different tongues
>tfw still not ever going to become a great writer
I should just end it

Sadly the critical window for learning a language fluently without an accents starts at 6 and ends around 10, which explains why you're able to speak german without one. But considering that you should already have known english since 10th grade and you're currently living in an english town means you should be already fluent in it. If you use it daily without any other language you'll get around. English is like the easiest language out there.

You'll not be able to speak quality german if you haven't read anything german on a daily basis and have nobody to speak with. Further if you're not highly educated you'll not find a job with such bad language skills.

>born Polak
>raised in German
>told french, spanish and english in school
>currently into latin
Meh, it's nothing special in europe. Nearly everyone with a higher education here has at least their native one, english, french/spanish and latin/greek.

Read the Translingual Imagination by Steven Kellman.

I myself am getting paid to write literary fiction for three years, writing in my second tongue. (MFA)

You're a brainlet who could not pick up all three languages.

typical single language fag who doesn't speak what it means to understand multiple languages

I am writing in English because I've been conversing on sites and video games since I was 8 and the literary scene in my country is close to being dead.
My only concern is that I have fewer chances being published, given that I don't have any connections whatsoever and I can't consider moving to an English speaking country. Maybe I'll fool some US publishers into thinking I'm coming from some sort of minority but I'd have to watch what I'm writing.
If anyone is in this situation I'd love to talk more.

>you'd still probably have an incredibly hard time writing in German because of the grammar. It's closer to Latin than it is to English IMO.
This is not entirely true. Most Deutsch grammar can be used correctly in English. Read early English lit and you will see the old grammar. It will seem unwieldy to you due to unfamiliarity with it in the common parlance of our time. The reality is that a lot of Deutsch grammar is more correct in English than how many people write. Further, Deutsch and English have stacks of cognates. For reference, my grandfather spoke Deutsch as a first language and he taught me a lot of my English - borrowing from the grammatical patterns that were most comfortable to him in Deutsch.

Just write short stories and beg for feedback. It's what I do.

Also I would appreciate some feedback
pixeldra.in/u/Eh_dc8

Fun fact! In English, we say "German," not "Deutsch."

eastern europe

> Hao and Tiansha

Этo нe впoлнe пpaвдa. Бoльшaя чacть pyccкoй гpaммaтики мoжнo иcпoльзoвaть нa English. Пpoчитaй cтapyю English литepaтypy, зaтeм ты бyдeшь cмoтpeть cтapyю гpaммaтикy. Бyдeт кaжeтcя тeбe нeyклюжaя из-зa eё нeoбычнocти нa oбщeм языкe coвpeмeннoгo вpeмeни. Peaльнocть—мнoгo pyccкoй гpaммaтики—нa English пpaвильнee чeм cпocoб кaк мнoгo люди пишyт. Кpoмe тoгo, y pyccкoгo и English ecть cтoгa cлoв oбщeгo пpoиcхoждeния. Для cпpaвки, дeд был poдным нocитeлeм pyccкoгo и oн нayчил мeня мнoгo мoeгo English, зaимcтвoвaвший из гpaммaтичecких шaблoнoв, кoтopыe были eмy caмыми знaкoмыми нa pyccкoм.

>be American
>grow up in Germany
>come to America
>be best German speaker in college
>my grammar is still atrocious
>try writing in German
>think it's OK, but know that the grammar is horrible

an, user, so I can have an idea

He grew up speaking German, the first thing you pick up on is grammar. If he lived there for the first 11 years of his life he's already learned what sounds normal or not and he says he doesn't even have an accent. He probably just can't debate in German.